Full Throttle

After a month of [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/cup.jpg]NEXTEL Cup[/avatar] domination by the Joe Gibbs team and Tony Stewart, Jack Roush returned to the forefront with 3 of the top five finishers, led by winner Kurt Busch. The ‘04 season Champ led 131 of 203 laps - those extra three resulting from a late-race [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/caution.jpg]caution[/avatar] - for his second win of the year.

Following Busch across the stripe was Rusty Wallace for his best result of the season. In third was [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/martin.jpg]Mark Martin[/avatar] and Carl Edwards who drove from the rear of the field to fourth place. Ryan Newman rounded out the top five.

For Busch it was a followup performance to last week when two poor pitstops necessitated he drive through the field twice to a second place finish. There would be no such problems this week as Busch led 110 of the first 150 laps then took control late in the race. Pit strategy played into the finish as Rusty Wallace only took on two tires on lap 164 but it wasn’t enough to hold off the four tires and Roush/Yates power of Busch.

Series points leader Jimmie Johnson salvaged a 12^th place finish after spending much of the race a lap down when caught on pitroad when the yellow flag flew. A combination of Greg Biffle’s 17^th place and Tony Stewart’s 7^th enabled Smoke to leapfrog into second place in the standings with 6 events before the Chase.

Fin St Car Driver Make Sponsor Pts/Bonus Laps Status

1 2 #97 Kurt Busch Ford IRWIN Industrial Tools 190/10 203 Running
2 13 #2 Rusty Wallace Dodge Miller Lite 175/5 203 Running
3 3 #6 Mark Martin Ford Viagra 170/5 203 Running
4 41 #99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 160/0 203 Running
5 4 #12 Ryan Newman Dodge Mobil 1/Speedpass 160/5 203 Running
6 10 #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 150/0 203 Running
7 6 #20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 146/0 203 Running
8 23 #18 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 142/0 203 Running
9 34 #0 Mike Bliss Chevrolet NetZero Best Buy 138/0 203 Running
10 5 #21 Ricky Rudd Ford Motorcraft Genuine Parts 134/0 203 Running
11 1 #42 Jamie McMurray Dodge Texaco Havoline 130/0 203 Running
12 9 #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 127/0 203 Running
13 21 #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 124/0 203 Running
14 8 #25 Brian Vickers Chevrolet GMAC/ditech.com 121/0 203 Running
15 20 #88 Dale Jarrett Ford UPS 118/0 203 Running
16 39 #38 Elliott Sadler Ford M&M’s 115/0 203 Running
17 7 #16 Greg Biffle Ford Post-it/National Guard 117/5 203 Running
18 16 #19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 109/0 203 Running
19 26 #43 Jeff Green Dodge Cheerios/Betty Crocker 106/0 203 Running
20 42 #41 Casey Mears Dodge Target 103/0 203 Running
21 22 #07 Dave Blaney Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 100/0 203 Running
22 14 #01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 102/5 203 Running
23 27 #32 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet Tide 94/0 203 Running
24 19 #11 Jason Leffler Chevrolet FedEx Ground 91/0 203 Running
25 11 #22 Scott Wimmer Dodge Caterpillar 88/0 203 Running
26 24 #15 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts 85/0 203 Running
27 15 #9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 82/0 202 Running
28 25 #40 Sterling Marlin Dodge Coors Light 79/0 202 Running
29 31 #4 Mike Wallace Chevrolet Lucas/Wide Open Energy Drink 81/5 202 Running
30 33 #45 Kyle Petty Dodge Chick-Fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride 73/0 202 Running
31 12 #49 Ken Schrader Dodge Schwan’s Home Service 70/0 202 Running
32 38 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 67/0 201 Running
33 18 #10 Scott Riggs Chevrolet Valvoline 64/0 201 Running
34 32 #66 Mike Garvey * Ford Peak Fitness 61/0 201 Running
35 37 #37 Kevin Lepage Dodge BoSPOKER.net 58/0 201 Running
36 30 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford DeWalt Power Tools 55/0 195 Running
37 17 #31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 52/0 192 Running
38 40 #77 Travis Kvapil Dodge Kodak/Jasper Engines 49/0 179 Running
39 28 #5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet Kellogg’s 46/0 150 Out of Race
40 29 #7 Robby Gordon Chevrolet Jim Beam 43/0 143 Out of Race
41 36 #34 P.J. Jones Chevrolet Mach One Inc. 45/5 23 Out of Race
42 43 #27 Kirk Shelmerdine Ford LR Lyons & Son/Salem RV 37/0 11 Out of Race
43 35 #13 Greg Sacks Dodge Sacks Motorsports 34/0 5 Out of Race